Dental hygienist and budding entrepreneur Chris Davenport wanted
to make visiting the dentist convenient for busy casino workers.
After partnering with a dentist (hygienists can't own health
practices under Nevada law), Davenport, 35, started Casino Direct
Health Services and developed a 40-foot dental office on wheels for
$350,000. He saw his first patients at the Primadonna Resorts, now
owned by MGM Grand.

Davenport's private mobile dentistry practice soon partnered
with Las Vegas casino operators to become part of the
companies' benefits programs. Davenport and his staff travel to
casinos six days a week, providing complete on-site care for
employees during breaks or after their shifts.

Patient referrals have been integral in getting Davenport's
business up and running. "All our prospective patients tend to
work together, so when they come into our mobile facilities, they
have to have a pretty amazing experience [to ensure
referrals]," Davenport says. He keeps the patients happy with
the latest technology: Not only are the three private offices in
the mobile unit decked out with flat-screen TVs and memory-foam
chairs, but he also uses a paperless record-keeping system.

In 2005, this combination of on-site care and high-tech gadgetry
earned Casino Direct $2 million. With a new brick-and-mortar office
now open in Las Vegas, Davenport expects to bring in at least $3.6
million in 2006.

Currently, Davenport is looking to add one mobile unit to his
fleet in Nevada and is also working on a deal with Harrah's
Entertainment to roll his service to casinos in Tunica,
Mississippi. He hopes to have these new mobile units in action by
year-end.

Davenport believes on-site dental care is a natural choice for
large companies with health-care coverage. "If their employees
are smiling," he says, "that's obviously going to
affect their bottom line."

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